djross wrote:Yes, the temptation to pick my top 20 is very strong, because they are all films I would hate to have to give up. Nevertheless, it is possible to imagine that other considerations may come into play in such a hypothetical situation.Are we presuming that our island contains a well-equipped big screen cinema? If so, the following selection is one I think I would be very happy with. If they are being watched on an iPod, a different bunch of movies may be preferable.

2001: A Space OdysseyBadlandsBlue VelvetBreaking the WavesThe Century of the SelfContemptDays of HeavenDuck SoupFanny and AlexanderHis Girl FridayHitler – ein Film aus DeutschlandHusbands and WivesKoyaanisqatsiMurmur of the HeartThe New WorldScenes from a MarriageSeven BeautiesThe Thin Red LineThe Umbrellas of CherbourgWest Side Story

Note that it contains 11 of my top 20 movies. It also contains Malick's entire oeuvre.

Some movies that, depending on mood, could also enter the list: Umberto D., The Mirror, Irreversible, Top Hat, Gigi.

Eight years later, still assuming we are talking about spending our remaining years on an island with a well-equipped big screen cinema, and where it is still tempting to just pick my twenty highest-scoring movies (unchanged), my updated list would probably be something along the following lines:

So four Malicks, three Syberbergs, three Tarkovskys and two Bergmans. It was also very hard not to include Breaking the Waves, 2001: A Space Odyssey, California Split, Murmur of the Heart, Persona and Scenes from a Marriage, but these are perhaps the twenty that seem like they will have the greatest lasting value. I was also tempted to include The Ister!

3) Alone in the Wilderness (2004) -I'll rewatch him making his cabin repeatedly to build one for myself.

I guess self-gratification will also be a probable issue. If only we are able to take 'soft' erotic 'movies', I can be satisfied with some Emmanuelle's -old or new -without boredom

4) Emmanuelle (1974)5) Emmanuelle, Queen of the Galaxy (1994)

Assuming that we're not allowed to take TV series with us, I'll take long movies with complex character involvements so as to keep myself occupied and not memorise every single line of the movie as in the case of "I am Legend" -because of repetition. In this case, long Soviet movies will help.

6) War and Peace (1966)

And finally I'll grap some of my favourites; but in a desert island I don't think I'll care much about the rest of humankind and their problems: war, politics, ideology, social problems, etc.; which are a lot to do with my top list. Therefore I'll take only a few of them